Hey everyone, I am new to the forum. A friend suggested it today, and I've been reading for hours now! :)

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I am looking for a mounting suggestion for the TV I just ordered (Samsung LN52A750). I currently have a 60" rear projection LCD, but it takes up too much room in our living room. I'm trying to avoid taking up 2' away from the wall as I am currently doing. I want to mount the new TV to the wall, but I am not sure that I just want a regular wall mount, I would prefer something more unique. I like the one at costco.com, but am not sure that I am willing to pay $500 for it (evo Home Theater Mounting Solution). Has anyone come across something similar, or even something different that they liked?
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I also want to put all the components in/ on the cabinet to the right of the TV (counter to be installed soon!), and I would also like to wire everything through the wall to the cabinet. One problem is that it is an exterior wall, and there is insulation so I guess that would make it more difficult? Is there anything special I'd need to deal with (as far as wiring goes) being that I am mounting the TV on an exterior wall? I am not a huge fan of the cable tray that runs down the wall, but would revert to it if I absolutely had to. I am pretty new to home improvement projects, so if you know of a few good links where I could read up on everything I'd need to do it would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks and I look forward to some suggestions!!

-- Justin

Welcome. Running wires in-wall in exterior walls is very doable but the most important skills you will need are drywall cutting, patching and painting. The better you get at fishing wires the smaller the incisions.

You need to run at least one HDMI cable and power (outlet) to a location hidden behind the TV. Powerbridge.com offers some solutions for wall plates to simplify this process. If you have or can get a receiver that will switch all of your sources to the one HDMI run it will greatly simplify your life. Other wise you are faced with running a wire for each piece of gear.

Look over some basic home wiring books (reading is free) at Home depot. The techniques for running wires for new outlets are pretty much applicable to running your wires in this situation. Best practice is to run a conduit for your HDMI cable so that you can change it out easier in the future, if you ever need to, but that is not required. Just get an HDMI cable rated for in-wall use. It will state CL2 or CL3 on the cable jacket. Monoprice.com is a good VALUE provider of Cables and Panel mounts.

If you want to invent a cheap version of that wall unit think about grabbing some prefinished kitchen cabinet doors or flat end panels at IKEA and mounting to the wall to create a furniture look then put a mount on top of that. Be sure to fasten to the studs.

Thanks for the advice.

Do you think this switch would be a good alternative to a receiver, until I can convince my wife to let me buy one? :-)

http://www.monoprice.com/products/product.asp?c_id=101&cp_id=10110&cs_id=1011002&p_id=4088&seq=1&format=1#largeimage

The specs indicate that it should work.

Thats a seriously cool looking TV stand, looks like the kinda ones that come outta the end of your bed :D
http://www.imagehunt.info/nytrolic/pixel4.JPG
http://www.imagehunt.info/nytrolic/pixel3.JPG